Hazards Analysis, Code Compliance & Procedure Development

Services to identify process safety hazards and facilitate compliance with established standards and codes.

Combustible Dust Testing

Laboratory testing to quantify dust explosion and reactivity hazards

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Laboratory testing to quantify explosion hazards for vapor and gas mixtures

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Laboratory testing to quantify reactive chemical hazards, including the possibility of material incompatibility, instability, and runaway chemical reactions

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Fauske & Associates fulfills the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2017 in the field of Testing
DIERS Methodology

Design emergency pressure relief systems to mitigate the consequences of unwanted chemical reactivity and account for two-phase flow using the right tools and methods

Deflagrations (Dust/Vapor/Gas)

Properly size pressure relief vents to protect your processes from dust, vapor, and gas explosions

Effluent Handling

Pressure relief sizing is just the first step and it is critical to safety handle the effluent discharge from an overpressure event

Thermal Stability

Safe storage or processing requires an understanding of the possible hazards associated with sensitivity to variations in temperature

UN-DOT

Classification of hazardous materials subject to shipping and storage regulations

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Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

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Model transport of airborne virus aerosols to guide safe operations and ventilation upgrades

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Model transport of contamination for source term and leak path factor analysis

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Model transport of heat and smoke for fire analysis

Flammable or Toxic Gas

transport of flammable or toxic gas during a process upset

OSS consulting, adiabatic & reaction calorimetry and consulting

Onsite safety studies can help identify explosibility and chemical reaction hazards so that appropriate testing, simulations, or calculations are identified to support safe scale up

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Engineering and testing to support safe plant operations and develop solutions to problems in heat transfer, fluid flow, electric power systems

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Testing to support safe design of batteries and electrical power backup facilities particularly to satisfy UL9540a ed.4

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Testing and consulting on the explosion risks associated with devices and processes which use or produce hydrogen

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Safety analysis for packaging, transport, and storage of spent nuclear fuel

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Safety analysis to underpin decommissioning process at facilities which have produced or used radioactive nuclear materials

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Testing and analysis to ensure that critical equipment will operate under adverse environmental conditions

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Testing and modeling services to support resolution of emergent safety issues at a power plant

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Low thermal inertial adiabatic calorimeters specially designed to provide directly scalable data that are critical to safe process design

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Products and equipment for the process safety or process development laboratory

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Software for emergency relief system design to ensure safe processing of reactive chemicals, including consideration of two-phase flow and runaway chemical reactions

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Facility modeling software mechanistically tracks transport of heat, gasses, vapors, and aerosols for safety analysis of multi-room facilities

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Published May 16, 2017

OSHA Combustible Dust Standard is a Misnomer

It's a highly searched set of words on the internet: "OSHA Combustible Dust Standard..." But, it doesn't make sense.  It should say "National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Combustible Dust Standard". Essentially, the General Duty Clause (Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1970, employers are required to provide their employees with a place of employment that "is free from recognizable hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious harm to employees.') is being followed with OSHA, but building code requires you to follow NFPA. The ever changing science is too much for OSHA to keep up with so makes sense that NEP and NFPA guide the way...Combustible Dust Testing

In January of 2016, Bloomberg BNA published:  "OSHA Poised to Pass on Combustible Dust in 2016".  Not much has moved since then nor appears to be able to move. Rightfully so.  As a regulatory agency, OSHA's abilities from a practical standpoint can sometimes be decades behind the boots on the ground. A one-size-fits-all approach for codes or tests not only does not apply to the variety of small businesses, evolving materials and equipment but even bigger facilities may need years to adapt and adopt. 

NFPA develops and publishes more than 300 consensus codes and standards intended to eliminate death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire. It provides the following three codes directly addressing combustible dusts:

NFPA 652: Standard on the Fundamentals of Combustible Dust

NFPA 654: Standard for the Prevention of Fire and Dust Explosions from the Manufacturing, Processing, and Handling of Combustible Particulate Solids

NFPA 664: Standard for the Prevention of Fires and Explosions in Wood Processing and Woodworking Facilities

So, while OSHA has guidelines, it cannot address nor keep up with the complexities "of the hazard and an already robust regulatory agenda, emergency response and industrial observers," per BBNA. Still, the "OSHA Hazard Communication Guidance for Combustible Dusts" is important for defining combustible dusts and the role of oversight in the workplace overall. OSHA'S National Emphasis Program (NEP) lays out the role of inspection and allowable levels of dust accumulation prior to testing - based on 1/32" and bulk, for example here: https://www.osha.gov/dep/enforcement/Combustible_Dusts_04212015.html

For more information on Combustible Dust Hazards Assessments (DHA), How to Collect a Hazardous Dust Sample or even Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs), contact Dr. Ashok Ghose Dastidar, PhD, MBA, Vice President, Dust & Flammability Testing and Consulting Services, dastidar@fauske.com 

 

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